Developer Tools

G3D includes built-in tools within your application to support creating scenes and debugging and optimizing.

Some of these tools have GUI interfaces and some are programmatic. Most are provided under the G3D::GApp framework and require that class or something similar for support.

Press ESC within G3D::GApp to end the program. This allows quickly exiting during debugging sessions. To disable this functionality in a shipping product or completed demo, set the G3D::GApp::escapeKeyAction.

The log.txt file produced by G3D records information about startup, the system, major errors, and files accessed. If your program crashes unexpectedly, then this is the first place to look.

The G3D::DeveloperWindow is the master control for the other GUI debugging controls. Press F11 to toggle its appearance within your program. Access it programmatically via G3D::GApp::developerWindow.

The Rendering Statistics bar shows the CPU time spent in the major event handlers and diagnostic information about draw calls and the GPU and build. It also shows a reminder of the special keys for the developer window. Toggle it from the developer window or programmatically via G3D::GApp::showRenderingStats.

The G3D::CameraControlWindow shows information about the G3D::GApp::activeCamera (the current G3D::GCamera) as well as allowing you to fly the G3D::GApp::debugCamera. Press F2 to toggle between the debug camera and another scene camera.

When the G3D::GApp::debugCamera is active, you can fly it using standard first-person controls (because it runs a G3D::FirstPersonManipulator). These are W, A, S, and D keys for translation, and the mouse for rotation. Because you also need the mouse to click on GUI elements, to actually rotate the camera hold down the right mouse button (or ctrl + left button on a Mac).

The G3D::VideoRecordDialog allows you to record screenshots and videos. Press F4 to record a screenshot and F6 to record video. The GUI presents several options for resolution and format. When an image is captured, you can either save it directly to disk or have the result archived in your development journal (journal.md.html or journal.dox). If saved to the development journal, you can add a caption and additional text. The filename will automatically encode the caption and, if you're using SVN for your project, include the SVN revision number and allow automatically adding the image or video to SVN.

The G3D::Profiler allows you to record a full profile tree of events on the CPU and GPU. You can manually mark event boundaries in your code using BEGIN_PROFILER_EVENT and END_PROFILER_EVENT. All LAUNCH_SHADER calls are automatically marked. Launch the profiler from the Developer Window using the timer icon.

The G3D::TextureBrowserWindow is accessed from the developer window. It allows you to view any G3D::Texture in memory, and create displays of them on screen for use in screenshots and videos.

The G3D::SceneEditorWindow contains powerful controls for creating and modifying G3D::Scenes. It begins in "locked" mode to prevent accidentally changing the scene. The scene editor window provides several features:

• Loading (and saving) of .Scene.Any files
• Click on objects in the 3D view to select them. Information about selected objects is displayed in the Info pane.
• A G3D::ThirdPersonManipulator displays for the selected object so that it can be moved using the GUI
• The G3D::PhysicsFrameSplineEditor allows creating smooth, scripted motions for (see also the G3D::Entity::Track system for even more complex motion)
• Drag and drop any 3D file or .ArticulatedModel.Any from the file system into the 3D view to add it to the scene
• Drag and drop any .Scene.Any file to load it
• Edit the properties of all G3D::Entitys in the scene, including lights and cameras
• Alter the G3D::AmbientOcclusion settings for the scene

The G3D::GApp::debugWindow and G3D::GApp::debugPane are initialized by default for easily adding temporary controls to the GUI when debugging. Their visibility can be toggled from the developer window.

Three functions provide formatted text output for debugging:

• G3D::debugPrintf writes to stderr on OS X and Linux and to the Visual Studio output window on Windows
• G3D::screenPrintf writes to the application window. It is useful for output that repeats every frame that you want to watch change. The visibility of the screenPrintf output can be toggled from the developer window
• G3D::logPrintf writes to log.txt. It is guaranteed to be committed to disk before the function returns. All of the printf variations are slow, but this is really slow because of the disk access

It is often useful to temporarily render shapes into the 3D world. G3D::debugDraw provides a means to temporarily add geometric primitives to rendering without making them part of the scene. It can display for a single frame (e.g., useful for visualizing values that change every frame) or for a fixed duration (e.g., useful for debugging collisions).